
Class ,^1 ;.^ 7 

r,()()k , ^7^^ 



PRESENTKD in' 



,r// 




^O' 










o= 



i.( sr — • (. 



ti 



Ion. ^^[emcs^^^pccd 



Before the Society of the Loyal Legion, at Cincinnati, 
May 4, 1887, IN Response to the Toast, 



"^'^^HAIVI LINCO^'"' 



lo 






r^yy 



,Qo— §=_^-= 




<^5f^' 



ADDRESS 



Hon. * James * Sfeed 



Society of riiij; Loyal 
^\.m 1, 1887, i/ 

l\i\ T.Nl 




COLN. 



LOUISVILLE: 

JOHN V. MOKTON AND COMPANY. 

1888 



,o /T" 



The following address was delivered by ]\Ir. James Speed at the 
annual meeting of the Ohio Commandery of the Society of the Loyal 
Legion in Cincinnati, May 4, 1887. The address was in response to the 
toast, " Abraham Lincoln : Nurtured by his country, living for his 
country, faithful to his country." 

Mr. Speed was in feeble health at the time, and accepted the invitation 
to make this response with misgivings as to his physical ability even to be 
present at the meeting. But it seems he felt that the end of his life was 
near at hand, and he rallied all his strength to speak a loving word in 
memory of Mr. Lincoln. Knowing that he could not trust himself to 
speak extemporaneously on account of his physical weakness, he dictated 
his address beforehajid and read it from the manuscript. It was none the 
less effective, however, on this account. It was apparent to all that while 
the bodily strength of the venerable speaker was well-nigh gone, his 
intellect was clear and unimpaired, and his heart was susceptible to the 
most tender emotions. The address was received by the Society with the 
most intense interest. More than three hundred members were present. 
Perfect stillness prevailed, except the instantaneous applause which fol- 
lowed many of the expressions, the applause however as instantly ceasing 
in order that every word might be caught. At the conclusion the feelings 
of the audience found vent in long-continued applause, and ]Mr. Speed 
was at once surrounded by those who could reach him and overwhelmed 
by their kindly attentions, thanks, and congratulations. 

Following the address the memorial of the Society in memory of Mr. 
Speed is given. 






CQi^. Speed's ^Iddi^ess. 



lioss than two years after the death of Mr. Lincoln, I gave 
a brief expression of my appreciation of his character. Then 
it was too soon for a general reception of his great and good 
qualities. 

I then said: " When passion shall have subsided, and calm- 
ness and quiet come — a period he was only permitted to see 
from Pisgah's height — the large measure of his wisdom will be 
acknowledged i)y all men." 

Since that time twenty years have passed ; passion has gone, 
quiet has come, and all men now speak his ])raise. 

I believe that in all the annals of our race, Abraham Lin- 
coln is the finest example of an unknown man rising from ob- 
scurity and ascending to the loftiest heights of human grandeur. 
The conspicuous causes which produced this grand result were 
inborn strength, integrity of character, patriotic devotion, and 
the nurturing iuHuences of a free country. At an early age he 
began to show the superior endowments which made him a 
leader of men. In the rough scenes of backwoods life his 
companions made him umpire in their sports and called him 
"Honest Abe." At the age of twenty-three his comrades in 
the Black Hawk war made him captain. One of these com- 
rades now lives in Louisville — the venerable lawyer, Isaac R. 
Greene. He loves to tell how Captain Lincoln was a leader 
among the soldiers in that campaign, and attracted all by his 
good sense, wit, and anecdote. 

(3) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN: AN ADDRESS. 

I kuew Mr, Lincoln when he visited Kentucky, twenty years 
before he came to the Presidency. He then showed he was no 
ordinary man. I saw him daily ; he sat in my office, read my 
books, and talked with me about his life, his reading, his 
studies, his aspirations. He made a decided impression upon all. 
He had an intelligent, vigorous, mind, strong in grasp, and 
original. He was earnest, frank, manly, and sincere in every 
thought and expression. The artificial was all wanting. He 
had natural force and natural refinement. His after-life was a 
continuous development of his youthful promise. 

When he came to the Presidency he was in the full comple- 
tion of manhood, nurtured in the school of nature and our 
broad, free country. He was a grand structure, designed, 
fashioned, and furnished for a grand purpose. Thenceforth he 
was to live solely for his country. 

The question of the ages had come to the test. Can a nation 
endure dedicated to the proposition that all men are free and 
equal? We now look back and see how much depended upon 
the character of the Chief Magistrate in that crucial hour. 
Generals might fail, but the President can not fail. He was to 
command through a four years battle. He was to be master 
through a four years tempest. At every point, at every moment, 
he must prove his full sufficiency. He must be wise, resolute, 
courageous, firm, patient, loyal, and true. He must impress all 
others that he comes up to the standard of this great measure. 

And so it was; he was equal to the task; he so impressed 
all those who saw him rightly and truly. Those near him felt 
continually the mastery of his wisdom, and there were times 
when his influence was inspiration to all. I saw him in moments 
when his courage rose to the majesty of grandest heroism, and 
sent its strength leaping through the veins of his countrymen, 

(4) 



ABB A HAM LINCOLN: AN ADDRESS. 

nerving them to sustain to the utmost limit the living ramparts 
of the nation facing the doubtful battle-field. His serene confi- 
dence restored the lapsing faith of men. His never- relaxing 
hope cheered them on to victory. Experience in hardships had 
given him a brave and hopeful disposition. Experience in jn-o- 
fessional life had disciplined and steadied his mind. Atten- 
tive reading and observation had taught him much. His 
learning was sufficient to balance his perfect practicality. It 
was that sufficiency of learning which comes inevitably in this 
land of ours, bountiful in all things, to such a man as Lincoln 
was, in the course of twenty-five years' diligent professional life 
and close attention to public affairs. It was sufficient to enable 
him to see things in their relations, and to act with intelligent 
discrimination ; sufficient to give liberal views, dissipate narrow- 
ness and broaden judgment. He had learned the theory, the 
objects, the duties, the powers of this great Government. He 
had learned to know men. His own marvelously balanced 
humanity weighed men with unerring precision. He knew the 
real from the feigned. Truth felt assurance in his presence, and 
falsehood quailed. He had learned how to overcome difficulties, 
how to maintain composure in peril, how to be firm in doing 
and not doing, how to move neither too fast nor too slow. He 
had learned to think wisely. He said : " We must see things as 
they are ; to-day is not yesterday, to-morrow will not be to-day. 
That which is right must be done." He had learned to express 
his thoughts in language of unsurpassed energy, aptitude, and 
beauty. His utterances in moments of intensest interest thrilled 
all hearts at the time, and will live coeval with the English 
tongue. 

For four years he bore the burden of the nation racked in 
the convulsions of civil war. In that four years the events of 

1* (5) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN: AN ADDRESS. 

an age were crowded ; passion raged ; excitement rose without 
an ebb; the earth shook with the tramp of armies; tiie skies 
were lurid with the flames of battle. It was a period of sub- 
version and revolution. Each day witnessed a new scene in 
the great drama; each hour brought a new responsibility. Who 
can estimate the value of Abraham Lincoln's service to this 
country in that tremendous struggle? He was strong when 
weakness would have been a calamity ; wise and j)rudent when 
rashness would have been ruin; faithful when to swerve would 
have been destruction. 

With all his lofty qualities the gentleness of his nature never 
abated. His simplicity, sincerity, and integrity remained in all 
the purity of youth when he was known as " Honest Abe." He 
had that charity for all men he pleaded for others to show. 
Quick to see imperfection, he was never exacting. He was 
patient to try and ready to excuse ; his forbearing spirit dealt 
with men, rejoicing in the good, with no harshness to the erring. 
He had no censure for the general wdio failed, but the comfort 
that came when the real commanders appeared, those only can 
tell who saw his relieved soul speaking in his countenance. 

Nor did anv feeling of hatred toward those in op})osing arms 
enter his soul. Although his own election was made the occa- 
sion of the great revolt ; although he was misrepresented, de- 
rided, and insulted; although the duty was cast upon him of 
sending forth the power of the country to the bloody battle-field ; 
although ui)on him were concentrated cursings and bitterness, 
he felt no anger, he uttered no revengeful word. In his patience 
and forgiveness he seemed to rise above the level of humanity. 

The Jiation imbibed his magnanimity. The spectacle of so 
vast a collision, with none brought to punishment, stands alone 
in history. Only that group of fiends who stilled the pulsations 
(6) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN: AN ADDRESS. 

of Lincoln's great heart paid the penalty of crime. A mandlin 
sentiment has sought to cast blame on the officials who dealt out 
justice to these. One in particular is my distinguished friend^ 
the then Judge-Advocate General of the army. Judge Holt 
performed his duty kindly and considerately. In every partic- 
ular he was just and fair. This I know. But Judge Holt needs 
no vindication from me or any one else. I only speak because 
I know reflections have been made, and because my position 
enabled me to know the facts, and because I know the perfect 
purity and uprightness of his conduct. 

Mr. Lincoln always trusted that truth and right would pre- 
vail. He never knew the feeling of exemption from anxiety. 
He was a stranger to rest and repose. His form bent under the 
weight of his great charge. Care furrowed his countenance. 
But he had confidence in the ultimate triumph of the right. 
That confidence lighted his pathway from his youth ; it in- 
spired him when the passions of his countrymen were aflame to 
predict that the mystic chords of memory would swell the 
chorus of the Union when touched by the better angels of our 
nature. 

AVe wish he could have lived to see the fulfillment of this 
prophetic vision. But the curtain which veiled the new and 
glorious era of the nation was just liftiiig when his eyes forever 
closed. Great as our country then was, we now contrast it wdth 
the present. The fiery tempest of war did not overthrow the 
giant plant of the American Republic. It burnt the poison 
from its sap, expanded its beneficence, and sent its roots deeper 
in eternal foundations. 

We wish Mr. Lincoln could have seen the North and South 
come together in a loving embrace to bury every hostile thought, 
and '' kiss again with tears." We wish he could have seen the 

(7) 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN: AN ADDRESS. 

East and West bound together with iron bands, and the growth 
from thirty to sixty millions. We wish he were living to-day 
in the midst of his peaceful and happy countrymen. We wish 
we could now see him reposing in the comfortable retirement of 
his home, beholding, at a venerable age, the present splendors 
of our glorious Union. For the Union he felt the most intense 
love, and for those who went to the battle in her cause his ten- 
der solicitude was like that of the fond ones waiting and praying 
at home. These are his words near the end of the contlict : 

" Let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's 
wounds, to care foi* him who shall have borne the battle, and for 
his widow and orphans ; to do all which may achieve and 
cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all 
nations." 

We wish he could have seen the consummation of all his 
patriotic hopes, as it is our privilege to see it this day. Were 
it possible for him to be here now in this great assembly of gal- 
lant soldiers, whose heroism sustained and preserved the Union, 
he would take you each one aifectionately by the hand, and from 
the depths of his grateful soul say, God bless you ! 



(8) 



©Iambs Speed, 



Boiin in leffeiison bounty, Kentuchy, PKaijch JJ, 3832, Bied neaii 
Louisville, Uentucby, Inm 25, 3887. 



To THE Commander and Companions of the Ohio Commandery of the 
Loyal Legion: 

The members of the committee appointed to prepare a 
memorial of our deceased companion, James Speed, knew him 
personally for many years. They would gladly dwell at greater 
length than is here permissible upon the amiable and sterling 
qualities that gained for him the esteem and confidence of all 
who knew him. The virtues of his private life were conspic- 
uous and attractive, his sympathies were warm and lively, his 
sense of justice and devotion to the right unfaltering. 

Mr. Speed was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, near 
the city of Louisville, in 1812. His people were identified 
with Kentucky from early pioneer days, and were active par- 
ticipants in the best political life of the infant State. He in- 
herited a repugnance to all oppression, an aversion to slavery, 
and a love for intellectual as well as physical freedom. Through- 
out a long life his judgments were toleraut yet firm. He never 
sought station, nor did he ev'er decline a public or a private 
duty. 

After graduating at St. Joseph's College, he entered the pro- 
fession of the law, which he pursued with diligence and large 

(9) 



MEMORIAL. 

success. His well-known anti-slavery opinions precluded a 
political career, and he made no appearance in active public life 
until the breaking out of the civil war. 

He had then almost reached his fiftieth year, had established 
his reputation as a jurist, and was cordially recognized, even by 
those totally opposed to hira upon the irritating issues of the 
time, as thoroughly upright, consistent, and able. 

A powerful element strove to commit Kentucky to the cause 
of the rebellion. Against this attempt Mr. Speed enlisted all 
his abilities and influence. He was active in the work of coun- 
sel and preparation. The labors of him and others of like sen- 
timents saved Kentucky to the Union cause and enabled hefe 
loyal majority to organize and control. 

Mr. Speed had been from his early manhood a personal 
friend of Abraham Lincoln; their association had been inti- 
mate, and each knew and appreciated the qualities of the other. 
When war came, Mr. Speed unhesitatingly answered the Presi- 
dent's request that he should take part in organizing the Union 
troops in Kentucky. At a later day Mr. Lincoln called him 
into his cabinet as Attorney-General. His upright administra- 
tion of that high office in perilous times and amid scenes of 
excitement and violence is matter of history. 

The associations of responsible political life confirmed be- 
tween Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Speed the mutual confidence that 
had commenced in their youth. The President found that time 
had but made more firm the ancient integrity of his friend and 
developed the justness and kindliness of his nature. 

Experience had added wisdom to his other good gifts ; the 
relations of the two were those of attached personal friends. 

At the last annual reunion of this Commandery, on the 4th 
of May, 1887, Mr. Speed yielded to the general desire that he 
(10) 



MEMOBIAL. 

should respond to a sentiment honoring the memory of Abra- 
ham Lincoln. It was his last appearance in public. His feeble 
frame and tremulous voice showed but too clearly that his days 
were numbered, but they added an emphasis and a pathos to the 
eulogy that will not be forgotten by those who were there. 

A little more than a month after he passed away peacefully 
and tranquilly at his home near Louisville, leaving behind him 
an unstained name, an honorable record of duties done and 
trusts performed, and a lesson of patriotism and loyalty. 

JOHN MASON BROWN, 1 
ANDREW COWAN, 1- Committee. 

WM. H. MUNDY. j 



(11) 






^ 



LB S '12 



